WU20: Kenya chasing title defence in men’s 1500m with women’s 800m medal in sight

Youngsters Reynold Cheruiyot and Daniel Kimaiyo are looking to continue Kenya’s dominance in the men’s 1500m at the World Under-20 Athletics Championships when they take on a strong field in the final scheduled for Thursday 1:55 am (EAT).

The duo comfortably cruised to the final on Monday at the Pascal Guerrero Olympic Stadium in Cali, Colombia to keeps hopes of retaining gold that was won by Vincent Keter last year in 2021.

WU20: Kimaiyo and Cheruiyot advance to 1500m final as youngsters start title defence

Meanwhile, Nelly Chepchirchir has her work cut out in the women’s 800m where she looks to win a medal in an event that Kenyans failed to reach the final in the 2021 edition of the championship held in Nairobi. Her race comes on at 2:10am (EAT).

Both won their respective heats, Cheruiyot stopping the clock at 3:40.96 while Kimaiyo timed 3:42.69. Eyes are on Cheruiyot who has a Personal Best (PB) of 3:34.02 which he ran in Heusden, Belgium, in July.

Before that he had finished a close fourth in the Kenyan trials for the World Championships in Oregon, clocking 3:34.77. Kimaiyo will also have eyes on gold with his PB of 3:36.09 to win the Kenyan trials for Cali placing him as the second fastest on the field.

The two have strong opposition from Ethiopia’s Ermias Girma and Adihana Kasaye. Girma is also entered for the 800m in Cali and he possesses a PB of 1:44.36 in that event, speed which could be put to great use in the 1500m final. He has a 1500m best of 3:36.28 which he ran in May.

Kasaye recently finished third in the African Championships in 3:38.27 and his PB of 3:36.38 was run indoors in February.

Other contenders include USA’s Nathan Green who ran his PB of 3:37.46 to reach the NCAA final in June and he went on to take the US U20 title at the same track in Eugene last month.

Luxembourg’s Vivien Henz has broken his PB four times this year and it currently stands at 3:38.89, while Hungary’s Ferenc Soma Kovacs has run 3:39.88 and should also feature in the final.

Elsewhere, Chepchirchir goes up against American duo of Juliette Whittaker and Roisin Willis. Whittaker, 18, ran her PB of 1:59.04 to take the US U20 title in Eugene last month, the second time this year she has run below two minutes. Willis finished second to Whittaker at the US U20 Championships in 2:00.32 and ran her PB of 2:00.03 in early June. The 17-year-old rising star also won the US high school 400m title last month in 52.64.

Going up against them are several strong candidates for gold, among them Switzerland’s Audrey Werro, who won the European U20 title last year at this distance and who lowered her PB to 2:00.28 in Geneva last month, a Swiss U23 record. Slovenia’s Veronika Sadek should also feature, a 2:01.52 athlete this year.

Ethiopia will have Ksanet Alem, who ran 2:01.61 for 800m and 4:06.29 for 1500m in Spain last month. Britain’s Abigail Ives should also be in the mix, a 2:01.88 athlete this year. Australia’s Claudia Hollingsworth and Ethiopia’s Wezam Tesfay should also go close, with season’s bests below 2:03.